February 20, 2012 Alum Shows Documentary Investigating FLEET STREET FEAT Sex Traffi Cking in U.S
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BECOME A PART OF OUR TEAM. Apply to be an editor at joblink.jmu.edu. Serving James Madison University Since 1922 Sunny 49°/ 27° Vol. 88, No. 37 chance of precipitation: 10% Monday, February 20, 2012 Alum shows documentary investigating FLEET STREET FEAT sex traffi cking in U.S. LAURA WILKINS / THE BREEZE By ANNE ELSEA The Breeze Psychologists, state delegates, police o cers, porn stars, sex tra ck- ing victims, former pimps and former buyers of sex workers. Student journalists inverviewed these people to film “Sex and Money: A National Search for Human Worth,” which ’ grad Isaac Gill presented on Friday. Gill has been working with the “Sex and Money” lm team to spread awareness about sex tra cking in America. “Right before I graduated, I heard about cases of sex tra cking abroad,” Gill said, “and I knew it was an issue in the U.S., but I had no idea how bad BECKY SULLIVAN / THE BREEZE it was.” BECKY SULLIVAN / THE BREEZE Gill then got involved with this Isaac Gill (’09 alumnus) presented the The aesthetic and technical designs for the musical “Sweeney Todd” began last semester. Some of the larger group of journalists and joined the documentary about sex traffi cking on props include a large painted backdrop, a collapsible barber’s chair and a revolving platform. tour across the U.S. last year. He Friday. “I had no idea how bad it was.” made a special trip to JMU because he was a former leader of InterVarsi- Forbes’ ‘Sweeney Todd’ is the biggest production it has attempted ty Christian Fellowship, a faith-based extremely appealing. group that invited him to present the “I got into the trade at ,” one documentary. female victim said in the documen- By LAURA WEEKS have been in full gear since January, including the According to Gill, between , tary. “My pimp told buyers I was , The Breeze -by--foot backdrop portraying an s Lon- and , minors are sexually but it was obvious that I wasn’t. ey don skyline. exploited across America. “Mean- didn’t care.” After three months of detailed engineering and “Our director felt that to tell the story, we wanted while, most Americans are oblivious Victims of sex trafficking saw designing, “Sweeney Todd” is ready for his rst to see the world of the inhabitants,” said Burgess, to this staggering truth,” Gill said. their pimps as their only source of shave. who cites “Sweeney Todd” as a project that comes “As a result, what started as a glob- a ection, whether it was a fatherly e main stage production at the Forbes Center along “once every years.” al search for human worth became relationship or a lover. for the Performing Arts, opening tomorrow night, The barber’s chair sits atop the massive set. a national search for human worth.” “Pimps prey on young girls in foster is one of both fantastical scenery and technical A quick pull of the lever and the bottom half Most victims of sex tra cking are care,” another former prostitute said precision. of the chair collapses, sending the ill-fated lured into the business around in the film. “They offer a love, and “ is is by far the biggest production we’ve ever customer down a wooden slide hidden under- to , and it’s become the second the delusion of a glamorous life and attempted,” said John Burgess, director of technical neath a trap door and onto a stack of foam. largest organized crime in America, money. I called him ‘Daddy’ and he production for the School of eatre and Dance. Burgess, along with four students from the engi- according to the Coalition Against acted like he loved me, but he didn’t. “What we’re going for is a regional theatre-cali- neering, math and technical design departments, Tra cking in Women International. He only wanted money.” ber production, in terms of the quality level and collaborated to ensure the chair’s safety and tech- Sex tra cking victims were young In the lm, Derek Williams, a for- the way the set works and the way it’s built and nical precision. and vulnerable when drawn to the mer pimp, explained his experience painted.” e second-biggest undertaking is a revolving business, Gill explained. They met in selling girls’ bodies to “Johns,” or Burgess, who serves as the musical’s scenic platform, which showcases the parlor, pie shop pimps on the streets after running buyers of sex. designer and technical director, began making and cellar in Todd’s house. e platform is part of away from abusive families or fos- “Anybody can control a woman’s plans for the set last semester. Much of the stu- ter care. Pimps o ered them shelter, body, but only a pimp can control dent-produced aesthetic and technical designs see SWEENEY, Page A10 clothing and material needs. To young girls with nowhere else to go, see TRAFFICKING, page A4 these men and their o erings were ‘ ere’s nobody who could fi ll his shoes’ Friends, colleagues remember life of professor Frank Arasanyin, who died a er fi ve-year fi ght with colon cancer By ALISON PARKER probably illegal,” Zimmerman said. “He could walk into a room of was always kind and who never cared and JEN EYRING “He didn’t really know the area that strangers and be friends with every- about rank or seniority. The Breeze well, and he’d always ask, ‘Where can one before he left,” Burton said. “He was also a big man in every I get a good steak?’ If we got a salad, “Students loved taking his courses, sense of the word — body, mind and Professor Frank Arasanyin died on he’d give us a hard time and say, ‘No, and faculty responded positively to spirit,” Klein said in an email. “He Feb. at the age of after ghting get good food, lots of food.’ ” him because he was a relationship certainly had a presence about him: colon cancer for ve years. He was ese lunch meetings were more builder.” his big smile, infectious laugh and a Nigerian prince, speaker of nine than just a professional gathering. Arasanyin carried this persona into immaculate way of dressing.” languages, former associate of the Arasanyin saw them as opportuni- the classroom. According to his wife, Victoria, United Nations and world traveler. ties for the committee to grow closer. “He was really personable and Arasanyin hoped to open students’ But Traci Zimmerman best remem- “He made the work time really always joking,” said Jessica Arienti, minds to the idea that everyone is bers him for packed cars and debates playful, and we were able to get so a junior WRTC major. “I sometimes equal, often telling students that if over what to have for lunch. much done because he had that ener- wore [Greek] letters, so he would call their parents were ever in the hospi- Zimmerman, a WRTC professor gy,” Zimmerman said. “I learned all me ‘Sorority Girl,’ or a boy in my class tal and needed blood, they wouldn’t and the interim chairwoman of the these things about colleagues that I had dreadlocks, and he called him ask for black blood or white blood. curriculum committee, worked with didn’t know, just because he pressed ‘Rasta Boy.’ He knew our names, but “ at’s how he sees humanity: It Arasanyin on the committee. Arasan- the issue of us going out to lunch.” he wanted to see the other side of us, doesn’t matter to him if you are a poor yin, also a WRTC professor, led the Arasanyin was described as warm too, and by talking to us this way, he man on the streets or the president,” committee in nishing an overhaul and personable by most who knew really got us to open up.” Victoria said. “You are the same.” of the department curriculum in only COURTESY OF KRISTIN KNAPP him, including his friend and col- Courtney Railing, a sophomore rough his African proverbs and six months. Frank Arasanyin, 57, died on Feb. 10 of league Larry Burton, director of the marketing major, found it hard to sayings, Arasanyin taught WRTC fac- “He insisted we work through the colon cancer. Arasanyin was a WRTC WRTC department. Burton rst hired nd the words to describe Arasany- ulty and his students values they will summer on this, and we’d work these professor and on the department’s Arasanyin while he was working at in’s classroom presence. never forget. two- or three-hour meetings,” Zim- curriculum committee. the University of Georgia about “He always made it very interest- “He once said, ‘In my country, we merman said. years ago and hired him again as a ing,” Railing said, “and he always tied believe that to get to the sea you have In between these meetings, the professors into his car. JMU professor in , giving him the in stories from home.” Arasanyin encouraged the entire “He’d even crush people in the chance to create his own linguistics Michael Klein, a WRTC professor, see ARASANYIN, page A4 group to go out to lunch, packing all trunk and we’d all go, thinking it was program. described Arasanyin as a man who NEWS OPINION LIFE SPORTS 2/20 INSIDE A3 Stacks and smacks A5 Contraception controversy A9 Radiohead revisions A11 Headed home Carrier employee pursues New bill limits women’s JMU Jazz Band and Jazz Former JMU basketball her love of roller derby. right to control their bodies. Ensemble put a spin on the player leaves school popular band’s music.